Mom and Dad go away on vacation

Mom called her son every day to see how everything is going at home.

Her son explains “Hi Mom, mostly fine here – but the cat died on Monday.”

Mom was distraught: “How can you break news like this to me so nonchalantly!? Are you a psychopath??”

The son replies “I’m sorry Mom, I didn’t know how to break it to you.”

Mom then explains “In future, if you have bad news to break, you need to break it gently. You could have told me that the cat climbed up on the roof. Then the next day you could tell me that the fire department came to get it down. The day after that you could say the cat fell and had to go to the vet. Then, the next day, you could say that the cat has had surgery. Then, finally you could say that the cat had complications from surgery amd had to be put down. I would have been better prepared for that. Please keep this in mind in future.”

Again, the son apologised and they ended the call.

2 days later, Mom called again to see how things were going. The son replied “Grandma climbed up onto the roof.”